Birding Tour Southern Ecuador — A Feast of Endemics March

Although it is not as famous as the northern Ecuador birding circuit, the southern Ecuador route is truly a gem for birders, offering a very unique set of birds, including some country endemics and several range-restricted species shared with adjacent northern Peru only, with several of them hard to get in that neighboring country.

During these 19 days we will have the chance to explore a unique suite of highly endangered natural habitats, including the Chocó forest found only in western Colombia and Ecuador and home to the amazing Long-wattled Umbrellabird and Club-winged Manakin, and the Tumbesian zone, a very localized habitat that extends through southwest Ecuador and northwest Peru only and is home to a large number of range-restricted species such as Pale-browed Tinamou, Grey-backed Hawk, and Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner.

We also will cross different deciduous lowlands, high-elevation cloudforest, and páramo, looking for Jocotoco Antpitta, as well as tropical valleys extending the number of habitats encountered during this trip while visiting a few of the Jocotoco Foundation’s private bird reserves. On the foothills of the Andes of the Cordillera del Condor we will visit Cabañas Yankuam in search of the mythical Orange-throated Tanager and Golden-winged Tody-Flycatcher.

Jocotoco Antpitta is one of our main targets on this trip.

The Podocarpus National Park and the foothills of the Cabañas Ecológica Copalinga are home to several tanager flocks and a high diversity of hummingbirds, such as the beautiful Spangled Coquette, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Wire-crested Thorntail, and the shy Grey Tinamou.

We will also explore the Cerro de Arcos in search of the endemic Blue-throated Hillstar, which inhabit a small portion of the southern Andes and was only discovered in 2017!

Finally, the Polylepis Forest, which is rapidly vanishing in the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, is home to special birds like the endemic Violet-throated Metaltail and the sought-after Giant Conebill.

Please do join us on this amazing 19-day Birding Ecotours birding trip! We are sure you will have a fantastic and bird-filled time with us!

We should see many special birds on this tour like this White-necked Parakeet.